collapsed, and we know that. so when you have these elevated high, high temperatures, fire, chemical fires, i know it's sort of not the same, but you think of the twin towers in new york city. so that is still in the back of their minds. it's something they worry about and, o i'll toss it back to you guys. >> lee ann, thanks very much. this has been going on since 2:00 today. it's still very much a breaking news situation as the ethanol continues to burn at the nustar facility in crockett. it looks like we have some time to go before this situation is resolved. >> right now we'll continue oura all of our students went into shelter-in-place. >> major fire in contra costa county county. flames shooting out of a tank

full of fuel. >> people driving right by the fire. the freeway just feet away and now the freeway is shut down. >> massive black smoke coming out of the facility t. contra costa county sheriff declaring it a hazardous materials emergency. a quake felt here in the bay area as nerves were already rattled. that one big enough to cause two refineries to malfunction. breaking news in san francisco. the vote to ban private cars on a major thoroughfare. >> actress felicity huffman reports to prison for her role in the college admissions scandal. former official is sayg about club fed. what's happened is we have at least two tanks with failure releasing chemicals that are now burning. >> those chemicals are from this fire in contra costa county. >> shelter-in-place advisories issued for crockett and rodeo.

>> that means thousand of people are being told to stay inside in order to stay safe, shelter-in-place. good evening. i'm dan ashley. >> i'm kristen sze. that fire is still burning at the nustar energy facility in rodeo at the crockett border. >> abc 7 news report$7 news rep melendez was the first of our crews on the scene and has been speaking with fire crews there. lyann. >> i'm here. this is very fluid, the situation. let me finish here. this is what happens when you have live news coverage. we see right now, as i pointed out before, this blaze that has been burning for several, several hours. we got here before firefighters did. we happened to be in the area. there was a very large plume.

there was fire. we know now that three tanks were involved. one of them, because of the heat, not so much the explosion, but because of the heat, collapsed. that's what happens when you have a chemical fire like this one which is so intense. we don't know what caused it. we know that there were workers down there, fortunately none of them were injured. we're hearing crackling noises back there. i think that's just the brush behind is what i was told. there were alarms also that went o off, have been going out throughout the day, but because the county ordered the city of crockett to shelter-in-place, the people there to shelter-in-place, and now they've said they're also recommending that the people of rodeo also shelter-in-place. so what was in there? what was inside those tanks.

we know all three tanks had different amounts of ethanol. that's an additive, right? one of those tanks had about 160,000 gallons of ethanol. all three had that. you see that's what's been burning. you also have equipment that's been burning. there was, as i indicated, some structural integrity, damage to one of the tanks. that has been the concern all along. there's also been concern for this to spread as well, and they have done a fantastic job here, sta cotyir thankor panning ther thatire alo hillside. that was completely engulfed in flames and it moved very, very quickly, but they managed to put it out and also create

behind me this fire line that you see to try to keep the fire from coming closer to us. they are attacking it from the air, attacking it also from the ground, using water to cool off those tanks and also foam because remember this is a chemical fire. as you can see, the plume going up really, really, really high. we have been fortunate in that it hasn't been windy, so it hasn't spread that much because of the quality of the air. this is ethanol, and when it burns, it could be hazardous. interstate 80 has been closed now for i believe an hour and a half or so

that's a decision they made early on. the interstate is so close, i would say a quarter mile maybe from where it's burning to the interstate. so they made that decision. you see no cars there. so they are again -- look at that. you can see that fire right over there, if you can just pan for a minute, shepherd, that's a chemical fire right there. that they're attacking clearly with foam and you can see as that burns, that plume just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. we're going to have a press conference at about 5:30 to see if there's an update. but again, the city of crockett has been ordered to shelter in place. now they're recommending that also rodeo shelter -- the people there shelter in place. we're monitoring this fire. it has been a very aggressive fire, and also they have,

really, firefighters attacked this as best as they can. they have crews down there. i can tell you, when i came here, it's just amazing to see this amount of the flames and the smoke and everything and none of the workers down below who were -- this is an active place. people were working down there. nobody got injured. and so far we're told that no firefighters have been injured either. >> that is the most important thing of course, especially given a fairly large size of the blast, a number of people felt it in the nearby area. thankfully, no one we know of has been hurt. >> ly anne are we seeing a shift in strategy to focus on the tanks that the third one that wasn't on fire was structurally heatsohey'rerygow ntens protection measure? >> reporter: i think so.

you had one piece of equipment focused on one. then suddenly we saw the one next to it, trying to cool it down. wow, that looks intense, doesn't it, that fire, the blaze? that's all burning ethanol i think. so, yes, you can see that third tank behind that smoke where they're really putting a lot of water on that to cool it down. as you know, things can happen. you have a chemical fire that is very -- burning very, very hot. the strategy you have to use in this is to cool that down because you don't want it to -- in case of a bigger disaster, you don't want that compromised, vulnerable in any way and then create an even bigger event than you already have. >> lyanne, thanks very much.

lyanne melendez reporting from the scene of the fire. the contra costa county health department joined us with information about the air quality you might be wondering about. >> our hazardous material team is in the field with remote air monitoring and has picked up elevated levels of particulate matter 2.5, those are small particulates as mentioned that can be more hazardous for people who are sensitive. those would be younger children, the elderly, people with existing lung and heart conditions. we do want to emphasize a current recommendation for that area which is to shelter in place. >> it's always if that small particulate matter gets down into your lungs and burning for more than three hours, the more of that stuff goes into the air. >> across the carquinez straits some people have already gone to the hospital because of the smo >> leslie brinkley is at kaiser

in vallejo where they're taking patients related to this incident. >> reporter: we understand they might be. we have not had confirmation from the hospital that they are actually seeing patients here. we got a response from the coo of kaiser permanente northern california. he said we are not seeing an increase in the number of patients at our emergency departments at this time as a result of the fire in the crockett area. however, we're monitoring the situation and our richmond, oakland and vallejo emergency departments are prepared to take patients in with any injuries associated with the fire or health issues related to air quality. again, no confirmation of patients being seen. we have had a hospital employee tell us they are treating patients, but that has not been the word we've gotten from hospital administrators, so no confirmation of that at this point. as we wait, there was a lot of

smoke behind me. you can still see some rising. it's now blowing almost directly eastward. for a while it was drifting northward towards us here. it was quite a column of black smoke about an hour ago and now blowing in an easterly direction and appears to be staying aloft. a lot of people coming up to me seeing the smoke and saying, hey, is it safe for us to have our car windows open and walk around out here. as far as we know, it is. live in vallejo, leslie brinkley, abc 7 news. >> we'll check back in shortly. abc 7 news met a resident in pinole that heard the explosion as they were about to have family dinner in the back yard. >> a huge sound, super echoed. it almost sounded like someone shot a missile, a cannon. it was pretty cloud. >> it was loud and they also felt the shaking. abc 7 news reporter luz pena was

on i-80. >> she's taking side roads trying to make her way to pinole. where are you now luz? >> reporter: it's a mat house. we're on 4th avenue, 0.5 miles away from basically the area from where the fire is still burning. as you can see, everyone is trying to take the side roads. i don't know if you can see the people around me. everybody is in bumper-to-bumper traffic. we're getting out to ask people if they heard the explosion, if they're smelling anything in the air. many people i spoke to told me they didn't even know there was an explosion and a customer came inside the booth and said, hey, there's a fire burning right behind the gas station. the lady inside had no idea. some people didn't hear it. some people are noticing it right now. many people right now, as you can see, are stuck in traffic, trying to get home, trying to get out of this area.

we remain on san pablo avenue. it's obviously very frustrating for people here. they see what's going on. you can visibly see the fire burning ahead of us. they know that's something that's going to remain until after 6:00 p.m. live in san pablo avenue, luz pena, abc 7 news. we'll be back once we get more reactions from people in this area. take a look at some of the new video into the news room. you can see the fire creating what looks like a little bit of a tornado there, just spinning into the air. as you can see in this video, the column of smoke from the fire at the nustar energy facility went straight into the air. very little wind in the air. that's been very good news. it's helped enormously both in terms of protecting the public from the particulate material in the air. abc 7 meetality drew tuma has

been following it all. >> i want to show you this time lapse we took from our emeryville camera over the past 45 minutes. watch as we put this into motion, all of that smoke that's getting pumped into the atmosphere from this fire in the east bay. you notice that smoke, as it moves higher and higher into the atmosphere, it just kind of sits and it lingers. that's because the winds are so light in the area, which is great for firefighters. you do want light winds. that's what we're seeing right now, the winds are cal nm the region. again, under those calm conditions, you will find that smoke is going to linger for quite some time. this is a live look from our tam cam pointed towards that fire. you still see black smoke emanating from the region. we're watching very closely what contra costa health officials are talking about pm2.5. that's the particulate matter

that can get into your lungs and cause you respiratory issues. air quality across the entire bay area, from the north bay to the east bay to the south bay, you this haze in the atmosphere. as you live or work closer to this fire in crockett and rodeo right now, you will find the air quality is declining quicker because of the pumpng smoked into the atmosphere. the winds are going to remain light tonight and into early tomorrow morning so that smoke is likely going to linger over much of the east bay. >> that's great news, drew. thank you. let's get more details on the air quality. on the phone with us christine roselis -- >> we just lost her, but we'll get back with the air quality management district and get more detail as soon as we can get her back on the line. in the meantime, let's go to

melanie woodrow who has been digging into nustar and what the company is about. we have this statement to share with you about nustar. >> they released a statement. what are you learning about this company that owns t melanie, start again, if you would. we can't hear you. we should get your mic up in a moment. >> start one more time. >> sure thing, dan and kristen. we wanted to tell you about recent cal osha incidents. i reached out to cal osha to ask whether or not there had been any incidents. they're notified any time an employee or worker would have been injured. here is what they're telling me. there were two priornts, both in 2015. one was in january of 2015 in pittsburg. an employee was loading a when they inhaled some toxic

fumes and became faint. cal osha investigated, found no violations. they did not issue any citations. the other incident was in august in wilmington. a worker had fallen off a moving golf cart and injured their head. again, cal osha issued no citations in that incident. i can see that we're taking this nustar statement. nustar put out a statement earlier. we've learned some more new information since they did. let me tell you what they said initially, they were working with first responders to extinguish a fire at the sell by terminal in crockett, california. in the statement earlier they said there were two impacted tanks which were holding very low volumes of ethanol, less than 1% of tank capacity. of course, just a short time ago we learned it's actually three impacted tanks and that one of those tanks had as much as 176,000 gallons of ethanol.

that's according to fire officials. nustar in the earlier statement said all personnel is safe and accounted for. that's good news there.. also, nustar enacted emergency response procedures and were cooling adjacent tanks so they could reduce the risk of the fire spreading and contacted all regulatory agencies. we have video to show and i'd like to tell you more about nustar in general. they have 74 terminal and storage facilities. they're really a petroleum storage facility, but they also handle other products including specialty chemicals, crude oil and other liquids. we've been hearing fire officials sayeth nolally ueo figure out what other chemicals might have been mixed in there in the burning process. i can also tell you there are

9,800 miles of pipeline that feed into those terminal and storage facilities. we heard fire officials talking about that, too, that's how all these materials get to this particular storage facility. we've been talking about one, but there are 74 of them. that includes both in the united states, canada and mexico. dan and kristen? >> thanks very much. we appreciate it, melanie. i believe we've gotten back on the phone, christine roselius fcourse. bay area management . >> if you could start by qualifying your air quality advisory, that would be helpfu wch ae under the concern the greatest. >> this is an air quality advisory and we issued this because we see the potential for

some of the smoke falling down, some of those particulates and impacting areas along the carquinez strait. the fire did burn very hot. it put the smoke aloft. a as it moves to the east, some of it may fall down. we've seen a few spikes in pm levels. they're not particularly high, but we may see some of that smoke coming down, and we wanted to warn the public about that. >> christine, from what i understand, when ethanol burns, it produces carbon dioxide. what else does it produce and how dangerous is it? >> well, there's aave been burning there, and i don't know the particulars of that. we have inspectors on site that will be determining that in the coming days. the thing to be really concerned about is particulate matter that is something that causes immediate health impacts and can trigger asthma attacks, worsen respiratory conditions and impact those among us that are

healthy as well. we're asking people to please be al left, pay attention if they see or smell smoke, they should stay indoors with their windows and doors closed and of course should follow any instructions officials. >> i just want to talk a little more about the smoke and the way it's spreading. the winds seem to be going east. you issued a tweet not too long ago saying it's not just the crockett, carquinez strait, you also mentioned benicia, martinez, bay point and pittsburg. can you talk to folks in that area about what they can expect? >> the smoem right now is aloft. some of that could start dropping. we're hoping as it starts moving east, that will start dispersing and the pollutant levels be particularly high. we don't know yet. that's why it's important that we alert the public, they're aware of it and they protect their health if they see and smell smoke. >> christine, very quickly. how much of a break is it that

the wind is very calm? would it be much if the wind was blowing more dramatically? >> it could be. it just depends. right now the smoke is aloft and it's staying kind of confined and moving to the east. but smoke is very unpredictable. so we just want to make sure the public is aware of this and taking precautions. >> christine, thanks, with the bay area air quality management district. thanks for coming on with us. >> thank you. >> that is good information to what our drew tuma reported which is the air quality based on particulate matter, moderate throughout the bay area. let's take you back out now to the scene. you can lyae le earihe mask because she's pretty close to where this is burning. >> reporter: so we've been taking the mask off when we talk to you so you can understand me.

once i'm done with a live shot, i put it back on. that's the situation we're all in right now. they recommended that we put on these masks to protect ourselves. you see this still burning behind us. we have somebo video given to u by the contra costa county fire department. they have shots of their crews combating that fire from the ground. i see briefly what it was. you can see both the foam and the water, fire engines down there, really cooling those tanks off and really trying to put the fire -- this is a chemical fire. again, it's not -- they don't deal with it the same way as a brush fire or a structural fire. they do it in a very different way.

they've been very good about putting water on those tanks to cool them down because one of them -- remember, we were talking about three tanks. one of them collapsed because it wa so hot, so very intense. they don't want to see that again. once that happened, once that third collapsed, it sparked a fire and it became so much more intense and that's what they don't want to see. they want to avoid that. and also just -- remember, this is so hot that at any moment -- that's fair fear, there could be a structural integrity issue here, and then we would be starting all over again. you guys mentioned that -- how ethanol burns and so forth. but you have to also remember that other items within that

tank were also burning. so that's why we probably saw that black heavy smoke. it wasn't theno it was other material, not necessarily gas, but other materials as part of that tank or those tanks, if you will. right now we don't see any crews. i just saw 30, 45 minutes ago a marin county fire department crew also here. they're helping as well to continue to cut a fire line here which is so very important. remember, this whole facility is surrounded, as far as i can see, by brush. we saw already one whole hillside burn. that is completely out. they did an amazing job doing that as well. we want to remind people

again -- i know we've said this before. if you're just joining us, the town of crockett has been ordered to shelter in place. that means please close all windows, put wet towels on the window sills and so forth, especially if you have respiratory problems and so forth. rodeo wasn't ordered to shelt shelter-in-pla shelter-in-place. but now they're recommending that you do so because we don't know what's in the air. at 5:30 we'll have another update and they hope to give us information from the environmental health and hazardous materials office in the county. they're going to tell us possibly, we hope, what may be in the air. that's what they've been doing. they've been taking samples of what is being released in the air. if i were you guys, i would stay in the home and try to be safe.

we're basically the only ones out here because the interstate is closed. there are no homes around here. so that's where we are right now, and we're trying to stay safe. the crews as well. you can see the fire dies down. it flares up a little bit. you can see the foam behind there as well. no indication as to when this will end. back to you guys. >> lyanne, tank fires, whether ethanol or gasoline are notoriously difficult to burn out. i've seen them burn hours, even days before. you can see the smoke. some of it looks lighter. it was so thick and black earlier. the question is what's in that stuff? >> in terms of what's going on with the winds and how they ma be spreading the smoke, let's

check in with meteorologist drew tuma who has updated numbers and information for us. >> you can see the smoke is rising straight up. an indication that the winds are very calm. it's not blowing all around. that is having an impact on our air quality. what i want to show you is what is called pm2.5. that's particulate matter of 2.5 microns. it's a very tiny size. what that means, that particulate matter can be breathed into your lungs and affect your respiratory system. what you're seeing are numbers and they correspond to either good, moderate air quality. you can see a lot of yellow on this map indicating numbers from 50 in livermore to 73 in redwood city. that's pm 2.5. that correlates to moderate air quality across the region. what that means is if youer ooh susceptible very easily to respiratory issues, you want to

move yourself indoors because the air quality is declining across the region. once these numbers get above 100, that is when it is the general public that can start feeling these respiratory issues. again, we've been watching these numbers over the past couple hours, and they have slowly been air quality is getting worse across the region. it's because of all the smoke pumped into the atmosphere with the light winds. the winds have been less than 5 miles per hour which is, again, great for firefighters, fighting this fire, but not good for our air quality. that particulate matter goes into our atmosphere and just sits there. it's going to sit there, not only for the next couple hours, but likely overnight into the early morning hours. our air quality is not going to get better in the near term. again, we have heard officials telling us precautions if you do have

respiratory issues. the air quality is going to stay moderate if not close to unhealthy very close to where that fire is burning right now. a lot of black smoke indicating a lot of particulate matter inside of it. that means we could have issues not only tonight but into the early morning hours. the winds are light and not anticipated to get faster than that over the next 18 to 24 hours. that smoke is going to linger within much of our atmosphere.